The service is available in Faro, Vilamoura and Albufeira, with the locations chosen in accordance with the expected demand.
Uber Portugal explained that it will have a greater number of seven-seater vehicles in the Algarve in order to accommodate up to six passengers.
The company added that the service will only remain functional in southern Portugal for the next three months and that it is not a permanent move.
This comes a few weeks after the government said that it intends to bring the requirements for drivers working with the service of online platforms such as Uber into line with those for licensed taxi drivers in the country.
“If there is a new type of transport operator I think that the requirements for access to the market and to the activity must be the same,” the deputy secretary of state for the environment José Mendes said after a recent meeting with associations representing taxis in Lisbon.
The aim, Mendes explained, is to find “a balance between a strongly regulated activity with defined rules” - which, in his view, “has not contributed in recent years to improving the taxi service” - with “a completely liberalised scenario as far as requirements of access and prices go,” as is the case with Uber.
The deputy secretary’s meeting with two taxi associations was scheduled after last week’s demonstrations by taxi drivers against competition from the likes of Uber, which they see as unfair and illegal.
Uber has triggered controversy and mass protest by taxi drivers in various countries where it has begun operating, including in Portugal.